Focus of research in my laboratory is centered on bacterial pathogenesis of Yersinia enterocolitica and Y. pestis, etiologic agents of yersiniosis and bubonic plague respectively. The hallmark of these infectious agents is their ability to suppress the innate immune response of mammalian hosts. This is accomplished actively by injecting protein anti-host factors directly into white blood cells to circumvent cytokine induction, and passively by repressing or modifying bacterial surface components recognized by toll-like receptors (TLRs)
